Taser considered too dangerous, guns used instead

Wow - this story isn't one that Taser International will be promoting; so I will.

The original news report is written in Australian [LINK], so I'll provide a translated version that is hopefully easier to follow and still faithful to the reported events:

Central Queensland, Australia. A 24-hour stand-off. Police had been informed that the subject had a heart condition that would have somehow interacted with the "Safer than Tylenol" ('will never affect the heart, not under any circumstances') taser. So when the man rushed the police waving a machete, they shot him several times with their police-issue pistols. They hit him in the abdomen and upper thigh. The man was taken to Rockhampton Hospital, where he remains under guard. His injuries are not considered life-threatening.


If you're surprised by this story and the outcome, then you've not been paying attention.

The Big Lie is that "Guns always kill, and tasers couldn't possibly."


Update - "Police deny avoiding taser for medical reasons" [LINK]

[This denial] "...conflicts with the statement made by a Queensland Police Union (QPU) spokesman who told the Brisbane Times that police were advised not to use a taser because the man suffered from a serious heart condition."

So who knows?


More - Assistant Commissioner Ann Lewis and the police union are in dispute over why officers used guns, not tasers, to stop another man at Rockhampton this week. ...But a police union spokesman hit back... "Our officers were advised by senior officers that they were not to use tasers because of the medical condition," he said. [LINK]

Seems pretty clear to me. Somebody is trying to cover-up what was really said at the time, and the police union are having none of it.

Don't fight kids.